Totally Tubular Terrarium Tutorial

Today we are going to learn together.

About nature.

And the ecosystem.

Let's make a terrarium.

Shopping List

• From the thrift store or dollar store:
• Glass fish bowls, vases, bowls, glasses, etc
• From the pet store:
• Aquarium gravel (many style to chose from! Even awesome tacky bright pink.)
• Activated filter carbon (also in the aquarium section)
• From the garden store:
• Potting soil for cacti/succulents
• 1-2 feature succulents (~$2 ea) per terrarium
• From your neighbors' yards
• cuttings of succulents! I get them from my mom, but if she wasn't my mom, I would totally steal some from her yard. For a quick tip on taking succulent cuttings, see here. It takes about a 3 days for the cuttings to be planting-ready, so plan ahead.

In your glass of choice, add about 1" of gravel.

Top that gravel off with a sprinkling of carbon. Sprinkle in evenly until you only see a little peak of gravel (~1/4").

Add 2" of potting soil.



Remove succulents from garden store packaging and tickle the roots. Make a spot in the terrarium for the succulent and bury in the soil. Make your arrangement.

Add a wee bit of soil to fill in and make sure roots are covered.

Water moderately and evenly.

Place in a partially sunny spot (a window that gets light for only a few hours of the day) to give time to take root.

After 2 weeks, you may move to a bright spot in your home that is not necessarily by a window.

Some tips:

• Try variety inside the terrarium for balance. Something tall, something leafy, something with tiny leaves, something big, something colorful for contrast (like a red or purple variety).
• Try one large statement succulent and 1-2 complimentary mini succulents.
• Try a micro terrarium (in a small glass or even stemware)
• Top with sand (colored!) or gravel on top of the soil if you want to commit to the arrangement.
• Spray paint miniatures a contrasting color (i.e. turquoise dinosaurs, pink kittens) and place inside for whimsy. 

Care:

• Succulents like to stay dry. Sprinkle with a small bit of water once/week.
• Do not leave in direct sunlight for long periods of time. The glass makes a microclimate and it can get too hot quickly.
• Name them names like Sally, Spike, or Rhonda. Plants like to have names.

Getting Figgy Wit It

Greetings! The Roady home has figs coming out of our EARS. This happens every year when this ever growing tree manages to produce more and more figs. My mom pawns them off on neighbors, force feeds them to my grandma, and lets way too many go to waste. Not this year, buddy. I've always mentioned making something with them like jam or a cake and now that I have all this time on my hands (read: unemployment) I will actually do something with them! My good ol buddy epicurious provided the inspiration. What's funny is I don't even like fresh figs... The texture completely grosses me out. Figs and persimmons. No thank you. Currently simmering on the stove: Drunken Fig Jam , a la Bon Apetit, Oct 2008.

Ingredients

• 1 lemon, washed
• 2 cups organic sugar 
• 4 1/2 cups fresh figs, cleaned, stems trimmed, and diced
• 1/2 cup brandy
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

Directions

Use a vegetable peeler to remove yellow skin from lemon. Cut into matchsticks. Combine lemon peel, sugar, figs, salt and brandy into heavy, large, deep sauce pan. Stir to combine ingredients and let sit for an hour at room temperature, stirring occasionally. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Reduce heat to medium and boil until mixture has reduced and thickened, 30-40 minutes. While it cooks you may chose to mash figs into a finer texture. I chose to leave my jam chunktastic. 

After mixture cools you may jar it like a professional, or just pour it into a jar and keep it for a week or two.  This is why I chose to make a smaller recipe. This recipe could be further divided, but if you're going to go through the trouble to make jam, make a bunch and share it with friends and family. 

Ick.

Mom (accusingly): "DID YOU USE MY GOOD BRANDY?" Me: "Whoa, lady."

Before simmering.

So many figs!

Hmm... found a champagne cork in the garden. Guess I know what my parents have been up to while I've been away. . . 

Tia Maria.

In other news, I have a job interview this week that is 50/50 chance a Craigslist scam. That ought to make for a super post this week. Also, more figs to come!

Until then, watch every video on this youtube channel. I'm in love with Adele right now.